Absolutely Nothing
by Moonlit Seductress
Summary: Remus is tired of Sirius protecting him - what will happen when he loses his temper? Rated for slash, not graphic, but present, and minor amounts of coarse language.


**Disclaimer:** If I owned Harry Potter, I would have a big house and a really nice car, and SIRIUS WOULD BE ALIVE! But I don't have a big house, or a nice car, and *sob* he's not alive, therefore I can't own Harry Potter, can I?

**Warning:** This story contains SLASH – nothing graphic, but it's there anyways. If you don't like it, that's ok, but A) Please go away and don't flame me, and B) Why are you here in the first place?

**Summary:** If you missed it on the previous page, go back and read it, cause I'm too lazy to put it here. 

Absolutely Nothing 

"Lupin! Watch where you're going!" Severus Snape set his tunnel dark eyes on me, fixing me with a penetrating glare. 

I winced. "I'm sorry, Severus," I apologized. I tried not to antagonize Snape, but the antics of one James Potter and one Sirius Black always tore down the feeble walls of friendship I half erected with the Slytherin. I sighed. I loved my best friend and boyfriend – albeit in different ways – but they were complete and total juveniles when it came to dealing with Snape.

Snape glared a little more, just to seem intimidating, then stalked off, leaving me alone in the corridor. But not for long…

"Remi! Did he hurt you? I'll curse his Dark Arts loving body into oblivion if he did. Hell, I'll do it even if he didn't." Sirius came bounding up, grey eyes dark with concern. I rolled my own eyes. "He didn't hurt me, Sirius. I bumped into him, and he was telling me off, that's all."

"Oh, that's all, is it?" Sirius glared down the empty hallway, as if trying to curse Snape with his eyes, through the stone walls. "Are you sure he didn't hurt you?" he asked, turning his attention back to me. "Or hex you?"

My temper got the best of me, and I bared my teeth in a snarl. "I'm certain I can tell if I've been hexed or not, Sirius," I snapped, turning and storming down the hall. I could hear Sirius shout after me, but I didn't stop. Suddenly, I found Sirius in front of me, that grin lighting up his handsome face. "Alright, I'll stop badgering you," he said, teasing a long, slender finger down my chest. I sighed. I could never stay mad at Sirius for very long – he was just too gorgeous. _Besides_, I told myself, _who could resist that grin?  He could melt butter with that. _

Grinning back at the taller boy, I kissed him gently. "Okay then. You're forgiven." We set off down to the Great Hall for supper.

We settled at the Gryffindor table. I dropped down next to Peter, and Sirius across from me, next to James. "Hiya, mate." Sirius greeted our dark haired best friend with a poke in the shoulder. James turned glazed hazel eyes towards Sirius. "Huh?" he replied. We burst into laughter. 

"One of the best conversationalists in the world, you are," I teased James, while Sirius and Peter continued to laugh. James flushed red. "Sorry, I was distracted."

Sirius glanced quickly in the direction James had been staring in. "Oh ho, I see what was captivating our Prongs," he crowed, nudging James with his elbow. James flushed a brighter red then I thought humanly possible, and I followed Sirius's pointing finger. 

Lily Evans sat a few seats down, talking with Kathleen Finnigan, her red hair catching the candlelight. She glanced up, caught Sirius's grin, and glared at him. Sirius stuck out his tongue in reply before turning away. "You know, Sirius, sometimes you act more like you're six, not sixteen," I commented dryly. He stuck out his tongue at me, but I was ready. Subtly pulling out my wand, I muttered a quick hex I'd found in a book over the summer.

There was a soft pop, and Sirius's tongue began to flash different colours. Red, blue, green, orange, pink with purple polka dots – I lost track after a while. James and Peter collapsed in hysterics, as did the rest of the table, Lily included, watching as Sirius tried valiantly to see what was causing the laughter. Someone threw a mirror at him, and he promptly dropped it at the sight of his rainbow tongue. He closed his mouth firmly, staring about the table for the culprit. His eyes found mine, and I grinned, sticking my tongue out at him. He glared for a moment, then he flashed me a very convincing puppy eyes look, complete with protruding lower lip. 

"Ask nicely," I taunted. He shook his head furiously, so I put away my wand and continued eating. After a while, a sullen voice spoke up. "Moony, take it off," he asked, not meeting my eyes. "What's the magic word?" I asked, grinning at James, who snickered quietly. Sirius looked up. "_Please,_" he continued, through gritted teeth. I performed the counter curse, tucking my wand away again to groans of dismay. Sirius pointed his wand at the shattered mirror, muttered "_Reparo_," and glanced about for the person who it belonged to. 

A slim hand reached over his shoulder, plucking the mirror from his hand, and I looked up to find Lily standing behind Sirius, who whirled and scowled at her. She ignored both him and James, who choked on his mouthful of bread in an effort to speak to her, and smiled at me. 

"That was a really good hex, Moonchild," she said, her green eyes alight with amusement. I chuckled. "Cheers, Lily," I replied. She left, and I grinned at the name. She had worked out that I was a werewolf in third year, and confronted me about it. We became close friends, much to the delight of James, who was convinced that I could put in a few good words for him. One evening, she called me Moonchild absently, and I questioned her about it. She was the only person who could get away with it – Sirius and James both tried, but I told them off, and I was sure that it had been considered when James coined my Marauder nickname. 

"That was a really good hex, Moonchild," Sirius mimicked in a falsetto voice. "I'm Lily Evans, and I haven't got one thought in my pretty red head!" I frowned as he and James laughed. "But it's not her head you're interested in, is it, Prongs?" They laughed harder, ignoring my disgusted stare.

"Hey, why were you two late?" James asked suddenly, looking questioningly at me. "Fooling around in the halls, Padfoot?' I started to reply, but Sirius cut me off. "Snape was bugging him," he said, glaring in the general direction of the Slytherin table. "He would have hexed him if I hadn't been there." 

I slammed my head on the table, rattling the dishes, and they looked up in alarm. "Something wrong, love?" Sirius asked. I raised my head, flicking my hair from my eyes. "Nothing at all," I answered airily, picking up my fork as though nothing had happened. He continued to gaze at me for a while, before turning back to James, while I tried to ignore the shooting pains rocketing through my head. Damn those stone tables…

"What are we going to do about Snape?" James asked, running a hand through his permanently tousled hair, ruffling it in that way he had. Sirius shrugged. "I dunno, but we'd better do something soon – and it better be good. He keeps bothering Remus, and I want him to quit it – for good." He was so wrapped up in his tirade that he didn't notice my murderous glare in his direction. 

Fed up, I slammed my knife and fork onto the table, accidentally flinging a potato at Peter. It bounced off his head, and he shot me a chagrined look. I returned an apologetic one, standing and picking up my books. 

"Where are you going, love?" Sirius asked, turning his head and facing me. I ignored him, stepping away from the table and storming out of the Great Hall.

I headed for the library, fuming. I knew that Sirius loved me, and wanted to look out for me. Most of the time I found it sweet, but lately, he'd been getting ridiculously overprotective – hexing people for looking at me askance, or snapping at me. I didn't mind – sometimes I deserved to be snapped at, but Sirius didn't seem to think so. He bypassed the line of being caring and protective, and was venturing into possessive and overbearing, and I was getting sick of it. He treated me like an invalid who couldn't handle myself.

_Well, that's all about to change_, I promised myself, abruptly turning the corner that headed towards the dorm – the first place I knew Sirius would look for me.

As I predicted, about ten minutes after I curled up in my favourite fireside armchair, the portrait swung open, and Sirius climbed in, looking concerned. 

"Hi," he said apprehensively. I returned the greeting with a wave of my hand, not taking my eyes off the crackling fire.  He treaded water at my side for a while before perching on the arm of my chair, then sliding down behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. Try as I might, I could ignore him no longer, and I sank into the embrace. 

"What's wrong, Moony?" he asked, tracing my ear with a long, slim finger. "Snape bothering you that much?"

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Sirius, shut your mouth for once in your life!" I was out of his arms and on my feet, facing a very confused Sirius Black. He stood as well, rising gracefully to gain those three or four inches on me, enough that I had to look up to meet his eyes. "I don't understand," he said weakly. I snorted. "Well, that's fairly obvious." 

I walked away, pacing the length of the common room, while he just stood there, hands spread helplessly. I stopped mid step, turning to face him. "I am so sick of you," I snapped. I knew I was overreacting, but with Sirius, everything had to be overdone, or he'd walk right over it. "I am sick of you constantly ragging on Snape, and I'm sick of you treating me like a child, and I'm just sick of it all!" 

His temper was flaring, I could see it in his body language. He crossed his arms over his chest and took a stance, preparing for a fight. "You're sick of me? Why? I haven't done anything!"

"That's where you're wrong. You have done everything, and that's the problem. You think that just because I'm a werewolf, I need to be protected and coddled, cause the big bad world out there doesn't like people like me. Well, here's a news flash for you – I protected myself for eleven years before you came along, and I did a damn good job of it. And I'll continue to do a damn good job of it! I don't need you to hex people for me – I'm more than capable. And despite what you think, Severus Snape is not all that bad. If you stopped cursing him long enough to actually talk with him civilly, you'd realize that he's quite an intelligent and interesting person. But no, you're too wrapped up in protecting poor little Moony that you can't stop and notice the people around you!" I stopped, my chest heaving as I stared at him.

He said nothing for a while, then a cold, hard look settled on his face. "I see what this is," he said, nodding. "You want to go out with Snape, don't you?"

I stood for a moment, before groaning in frustration and resuming my pacing. He continued. "You're trying to get rid of me so you can have him, is that it? Alright then. I won't get in the way. You want to get together with that greasy slimeball, you go right ahead. You two deserve each other."

I moved instinctively, throwing out my arm and catching him solidly on the jaw. He stumbled backwards, turning shocked eyes on me. "You hit me!" he exclaimed, more surprised than hurt. 

"Don't you ever give me that shit, Sirius, cause you know that's what it is. If you really know me that little, then I think I'm the one at fault, for letting you blind me." I was really angry now, and I had to restrain myself from hitting him again. I reached into my sleeve and pulled out my wand. Sirius flinched, then straightened as I chucked the wand towards the stairs. 

"Don't feel sorry for yourself, wallowing in self pity looks bad on you," I seethed. I had thrown my wand away to keep from pulling it out and hexing him within an inch of his life, but I didn't need it. I was quite ready to tear him apart with my bare hands. "You're not the victim here. There is no victim. It's just you and me, and I am not the one causing the problem."

"Well excuse me for loving you then," he shouted. That caught me off guard. He took advantage of my silence. "I only wanted to show you how much I love you. I've seen how cruel people are, Remus – look at my family, for crying out loud. You don't think I don't know how people can be? People can hurt you, and I didn't ever want you to be hurt. Can't you understand that?"

His words shot me right through the heart, and my anger melted away. "Of course I can," I said softly, taking a step towards him. "And I appreciate it, and sometimes I'm happy for it. I know people are cruel, Sirius, I know it better than you. But that doesn't mean I'm not able to protect myself. I've dealt with cruelty for a long time and I know how to handle it. People get hurt. It happens, and even you can't stop anything bad from ever happening to me." I smiled. "Merlin knows you try, but you just can't. So stop trying. I know you love me, and I love you too, but I'm not three years old. I'm sixteen, and I can take care of myself."

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, eyes filling with tears. He held out his arms, and I stepped into his embrace, my own eyes misting over. We clung to each other for a long time, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I finally pulled back slightly, enough to look at him. 

"I love you," I said, leaning in to kiss his lips, which were bleeding slightly. He had a tendency to bite them, sometimes right through, when he was upset, and I was sure my well – aimed punch didn't help much. I ran my fingers lightly across his jaw, which was already beginning to bruise, and he flinched. "Sorry," I murmured. "I didn't know I could hit that hard."

He began to laugh, drawing me close to his chest. "Neither did I," he agreed, still laughing. "I'll know to keep at least one piece of furniture between us next time we fight." That cracked me up too, and we walked out of the common room, hand in hand, laughing our heads off.

A few days later 

"Lupin! Watch where you're going!" I sighed, looking up to meet the pinched face of Severus Snape. "I'm sorry, Severus," I murmured, knowing he wasn't listening. He stalked off, throwing a scathing glare at Sirius, who was walking towards me. To his credit, Sirius managed to ignore his enemy, concentrating on not saying anything. 

When he reached me, I stretched up and kissed him, threading a hand through his hair. When we broke apart some minutes later, he grinned at me. "What was that for?" he asked, taking my hand as we headed for the Great Hall. 

"For doing absolutely nothing," I replied, squeezing his hand.

Fin

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